Stuck
by a red burn
Summary: JJ and Reid and an elevator without power


Title: Stuck.  
Author: Andréa.  
Summary: JJ, Reid and an elevator without power. So cliché.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. (sadly.)  
A/N: Well, they didn't have an elevator fanfic so I figured I could write one, start in this fandom with something small and easy lol. Read, enjoy and hopefully review. Thanks Sarah for being awesome and beta-ing this piece for me.

-

JJ trotted through the artificially illuminated bullpen, manila folder in hand, lightning bolts flashing repeatedly outside. The lights on the ceiling flickered a couple of times, dangerously threatening to go off for good, and the rain flapped brutally against the windows. The storm looked bad.

She briefly wondered how she was going to drive home in this torrential downpour and actually get there in one piece.

Striding up the stairs, she took them two at a time and knocked on Gideon's door, entering when he nodded in acknowledge. She waved the manila folder between them and placed it atop his desk. "The Mansfield case. You were supposed to take a look at it."

Gideon grabbed the folder and opened it, proceeding to read the files. "Okay."

"So, if you don't need anything else, I'm gonna wait for the storm to get better and head home."

Gideon nodded, glancing quickly at her. "Drive safely. It looks terrible outside."

"Will do." She waved on her way out, and quickly descended the stairs. Making a stop in her office, she grabbed her things and rushed to the elevators, pushing the down button. Automatically, her head tilted up to stare at the blinking numbers above the steel doors.

A lightening bolt flashed outside, the light illuminating the bullpen for a second, followed by a loud, shuddering thunderclap. The lights flickered again as the whole building seemed to shake.

"It looks so bad." She heard a voice behind her and her head whipped to her right. Reid was repositioning his glasses, his head turning to check the numbers.

"Yeah." She nodded, her eyes moving to the window, just when another lightening struck. "I'm just gonna wait it out a while, 'til it gets better." As if on cue the lights flickered once more. It was starting to annoy her, really.

"I wouldn't bet on it."

"Such an optimist," she deadpanned, her attention shifting to the ding that announced the elevator had arrived and the doors were opening.

They both stepped inside, each resting against one side of the confined space. The doors dinged close as JJ pressed the parking lot button.

"Just saying." He shrugged, and the innocent expression on his face brought a smile to her lips. Cute, she thought.

"What are you smiling about?" He asked curiously.

"Nothing." She answered, shaking her head.

They rode in silence as the cab descended the fifth floor, then fourth, then third, then the elevator came to a halt as the lights flickered off and the motor above their heads hissed its death.

"What the…" Reid muttered, instinctively looking up.

"Must be the storm." JJ reasoned, hitting the emergency button several times, but giving up once the doors didn't budge.

"Power's out." Reid nodded, trying any button, all lights gone. Great.

"I can't believe this." She murmured, her hands on her hips.

"Well, you did say you wanted to wait."

She couldn't see the sneer in his eyes due to the darkness surrounding them.

A couple of minutes passed in silence as each was lost with their own thoughts, neither worried about being stuck in the elevator. It'd be either that or their cars.

There was a metallic sound that filled the technological box as JJ punched on the doors. "Hello? Anybody there?" Silence greeted her and she sighed.

A soft thump was heard and soon JJ's face appeared on the square of light coming from her cell phone as she sat on the floor. Crappy for illumination and crappy for signal.

Reid sat down next to her. "Oh, I think I may have a flashlight in my bag."

"You could have remembered that when the lights went off."

He shrugged, shuffling through his bag. "I don't always carry it with me." With a victory smile, Reid lifted the black plastic and turned it on, placing it on the floor, face up. The circle of light made the atmosphere seem like a terror B movie.

Another couple of minutes passed without a sound except for their slow breaths; Reid's were a bit more labored due to the fact that JJ's arm was constantly rubbing against his.

"Truth or Dare."

"Huh?"

"Truth or Dare, genius. Ever played it?"

Reid nodded, but his movement was barely visible in the half-darkness. "Once, but it didn't leave good memories."

"Aw, come on. This isn't sixth grade anymore."

She heard a sigh and a shift beside her. "Fine. Truth." At least it was something to occupy the time until power was restored.

"Why are you back to wearing glasses?"

He wondered why she hadn't simply asked him that; he'd have answered, there was no need for a game. "The lenses were irritating my eyes."

"Oh. Well, you look nice either way. Your turn."

Something fluttered in his chest but he pushed it away. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"Do you miss Elle?"

It took her a few seconds to formulate a proper answer. "I don't know."

"You 'don't know'?" He asked disbelievingly. "What kind of answer is that?"

In the half-darkness he felt her shrug, her shoulder rubbing against his again.

"It's just… I feel kind of bad for saying that I don't, which isn't true. It's just that… I don't know." She took a moment to complete her thoughts and figure out what to say. "She was nice, but I didn't really spend enough time around her to actually miss her. It feels different without her, though. Weird, as if she wasn't really supposed to leave. But maybe it's only because I haven't really warmed up to Emily."

"I miss Elle. I liked her," he said quietly, forgetting he didn't have to. Two seconds later, he felt a hand placed gently on his shoulder.

"I'm sure you do. You guys spent a lot more time with her in the past year."

He nodded and the hand was removed from his shoulder. "All right, my turn. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare," he said assertively.

"You are being bold now."

"I figured one of us had to. We're Federal Agents, after all."

"All right." She leaned on the heels of her hands, her legs stretching ahead of her. She thought for a moment. "I dare you to… sing something." She quickly added as an after thought, "Something corny."

Reid grimaced. Of all things she had to ask him to sing. "That's low."

"It's only singing. And you're gonna do it. It's my dare."

"Fine." He searched his brain for something, some bad song from his childhood, or some cheesy song he had heard on TV, somewhere. "Close your eyes, give me your hand, darling. Do you feel my heart beating? Do you-" His absurdly off tune beat of Eternal Flame was briskly interrupted when JJ's laugh echoed in the dark, too loud in his ears.

"Oh my God!" She leaned forward, knocking the flashlight between them to the ground, as she grabbed her stomach. "I can't." Laugh. "Believe." More laugh. "You even KNOW the lyrics."

"Right." He murmured, his face tight and a pout on his lips. "You dared me, anyway."

Wiping the tears away, JJ regained her composure and shifted her body so she was staring at Reid. "You asked for it." Her giggles were still insistent.

Trying not to let her adorable giggles take control of his brain, Reid stared her down. "I'm gonna get you for that."

"I'm not asking for a dare."

"You don't have to."

She ignored the tingle in her chest and the tone of his voice. "It's your turn."

He searched for something to ask. There were just so many things he wanted to know about JJ, but none of it seemed important now that he had the chance to ask. It seemed that he should save the chance for something big, something only he'd know, something special. He just didn't know what. "Hmm. Your first love?" he chanced. His brain was blank.

"Jack Cornwell. During the whole year I was like a love sick puppy. He asked me out two weeks before his prom. That's how long we lasted. Tried to get in my pants on prom night and I kicked him on the balls. My first love and my first disappointment. How is that?"

Reid chuckled. "Happens to the best of us."

She smiled, instinctively leaning her head on his shoulder. Reid was momentarily surprised. "Tell me something I don't know."

"I know a lot of things you don't know."

"Something that matters, Spence. Something… I don't know. It's up to you."

He thought hard, searching his encyclopedic brain for something JJ'd find interesting, something she'd like. Then he found just the right thing. "You're the only person in the world who calls me Spence."

He felt the head leave his shoulder, and even in the darkness he felt her eyes stare at him. "Well, that's nice." She smiled. "This is gonna be my special nickname for you then. No one else is allowed to call you that. Except your wife, of course, she can call you anything she wants. But then, she's gotta be really special since she's going to be your wife."

"I don't think I'm getting married anytime soon," he chuckled.

"Well, you never know. You're a great guy. The only reason you don't have women all over you is because you feel too awkward to show who you really are. If I remember properly," she continued, nudging him provocatively, "you had a beautiful TV star falling at your feet when you _did_ let yourself be seen."

Embarrassed, Reid thanked the Gods it was nearly pitch black inside the elevator, making it impossible for JJ to see his cheeks turning a bright shade of pink.

He wondered why it hadn't been enough for _her _to be falling at his feet.

The silence that fell upon them was uncomfortable this time.

"I say it'll take 25 minutes for us to get out of here." JJ broke the silence.

"25? Look who's being optimist now."

"Well then, smartass. How long?"

"8 minutes."

"All right." She retrieved her cell phone from the pocket and flipped it open, checking the digital clock. 8:42. "How about a deal. Who gets closest will give the other something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Dinner out for a week?"

"With our solid schedule I'm sure this dinner out for a week will certainly be done in no time." Sarcasm intended.

JJ smacked him on the arm. "Fine. Make it a meal per day, then. Any meal, any time of the day, for a week. How about that?"

It was acceptable. Besides, he'd get to spend time alone with JJ for a week, either he winning or not. "Deal." He shook her hand, sealing their wager.

"What are we doing now?"

Weren't they playing Truth or Dare just a few minutes ago? He never noticed them stopping. "I don't know. What do you wanna do?"

Ignoring him, she asked something that had been flipping around in her mind on and off for a while. "How can you be able to retain so much information in your brain? I mean, our brains are the same size, same functions, same… everything." She wrinkled her nose. She sounded like a retarded high school queen bee.

He shifted, finding a more comfortable position. "I don't know. I just remember everything I read."

"Your brain works like a sponge. It's impressive."

"It's scary sometimes." There was a silence that followed his statement and Reid regretting speaking in the first place.

"Because you know so much more than everyone else, or because you catch yourself thinking of things you find overwhelming due to the amount of knowledge?"

"Both." He answered quietly. I just wanted to be a normal person, he thought.

"Well, it can't be that bad," she said, and Reid wondered if she was reading his mind. "You're 24 and you're already part of the BAU."

"You're not that much older than me and you're also part of it."

"But I'm not a profiler. I'm just an agent. You on the other hand, are a profiler and have PhDs. There's nothing you can't do."

"I can't shoot."

She laughed. "That can be arranged."

"I think not. I failed my firearm qualification twice," he said grimly. "I killed an UnSub by aiming at his leg."

She laughed harder. "All right. Once we get out of here, I'm so gonna take you out for some targeting lessons."

"Because you're an expert."

"I can certainly aim better than you! Besides, it doesn't hurt to try."

"Unless you are in my line of fire."

"Shut up, Spence. I'm gonna make your aim 100 better, you'll see."

He didn't argue. And several minutes passed in silence.

"Did you like Lila?" She asked suddenly.

"Uuh… I guess."

"'I guess'?"

"She was beautiful and she kissed me. I was attracted to her, I think. I felt something, but I don't know what it was. I didn't stay long enough to figure it out." It seemed that in the darkness that enveloped them, talking was such an easy task.

"You think you could have been in love with her?"

Reid wondered briefly where all of this was coming from, but decided not to debate on it. "I don't know." He honestly didn't. "What is being 'in love' exactly, anyway?"

"Ah, you know. When you have this burning in your stomach, this flutter in your chest. When you can't stand being away from this person even though you have no desire to be with them. Your whole existence revolves around this someone." She said thoughtful. That's what she believed anyway. "Where sex is not the most important thing." She added with a smile.

"I liked her. But I don't think it mattered all that much if she was around or not."

"Kind of like its okay if she's not with you but it sounds better if she is?"

"Opposite to the 'I can't live without her' kinda thing?" He completed with a chuckle. "Yeah."

There was a pause. "It doesn't sound like love." She eventually let out and Reid had the impression she sounded… relieved?

"I don't think it was. Besides, she's probably dating a great looking co-star by now."

"You should be doing the same. Dating some girl I mean."

He shrugged. It wasn't that he didn't think about it, but the only one that he wanted to be with didn't seem to be all that interested in being with him. "Why aren't you? You are not dating anyone, right?"

She shook her head. Their kind of work didn't pave an easy road for relationships, and more often than not 'dating' seemed like a distant word she couldn't get a grasp on. Not to mention how hard it seemed to be finding someone who'd stick around when she needed to devote more time to work than anything else. "No. I'm not that much interested in looking out there for a guy to settle down with." No, she just wanted only one guy to notice her. Too bad his brain was as dense as brilliant. "I just wanted-"

Before she could utter another word, the lights above them flickered and this time illuminating the interior, the elevator shuddered and they suddenly felt lighter as the metal box descended.

JJ closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

"Well, look at that." Reid commented, lifting himself off the floor. He stretched out a hand to help JJ up.

Of course, just when things were starting to get serious something had to interrupt. She shook her head. "It was about time." Remembering something, she fished her cell phone and flipped it open, checking the time. 9:04. Reid's neck tilted to check it out himself.

"I just got a free meal for a week." She said cheerily, a victory smile on her face.

He didn't complain. It was win-win situation, after all.

-

The End


End file.
